David Dickson, chief executive officer of McDermott International of Houston, has turned around one troubled construction company. Now he's trying to persuade investors he can do it again.

The target this time is Chicago Bridge & Iron Co., The Woodlands-based builder of petrochemical facilities and power plants that has debt of $2.1 billion - more than its market value - and four projects dragging down its profits. McDermott agreed in December to acquire the company in an all-stock deal valued at $6 billion including debt.

The deal prompted McDermott's biggest stock swoon in two years. But shares are ticking back up as Dickson vows to do at Chicago Bridge what he did at McDermott, a builder of offshore platforms. Of nine projects that were losing money when Dickson took the reins in late 2013, eight are now profitable. Operating income jumped to almost $300 million last year from less than $20 million in 2014.

"It has all the hallmarks of the McDermott of three or four years ago," said Dickson, a 49-year-old Scotland native. "Everything is fixable."

The shares have mostly recovered from a 12 percent drop on Dec. 19, the day after the deal was announced. Chicago Bridge, which also sank after the deal was announced, has erased its losses.

In addition to extending McDermott's reach into petrochemical projects, the combination also adds technological capabilities and a bigger U.S. footprint. The Middle East accounts for two-thirds of McDermott's sales. Only 2 percent comes from the U.S., a market that accounts for 80 percent of revenue at Chicago Bridge.

When Dickson arrived at McDermott, he refinanced debt to provide give the company financial breathing room and changed three-quarters of the leadership in an effort to tear down barriers within the organization.

As U.S. crude prices fell below $30 a barrel in 2016 from more than $100 in 2014, Dickson wooed state-run oil companies because their budgets are more stable. He spent 70 percent of his time on the road, traveling to countries such as Saudi Arabia, India and Mexico, repairing and building relationships.

"David is absolutely the right guy to do this. He's proven himself," said Marie Lorden, co-founder of Fairpointe Capital in Chicago, which owns shares in McDermott and Chicago Bridge. "He understood the culture and what had to change and was able to make the hard decisions."

The combination still heaps new risk on McDermott, which was poised to reap the benefits of renewed spending on offshore drilling projects as oil prices rise. Power-plant construction is facing headwinds in the U.S. as renewable energy projects and slack demand throw the economics of new generators into question. A glut of liquefied natural gas is weighing on the kind of export projects that Chicago Bridge was contracted to build.

Chicago Bridge's four troubled projects - two liquid natural gas processors and two gas-fired power plants - resulted in second-quarter charges of $548 million. On top of its debt, the company has $920 million of net liabilities tied to projects.

The troubles at Chicago Bridge, a company founded in 1889, are rooted in the purchase about five years ago of the Shaw Group, which had won a large contract to build nuclear plants in the U.S. The work ran into delays and cost overruns, draining cash. Then the energy market crashed. The builder's market value sank to about $1.8 billion from as much as $9 billion in 2014.

"We're going to apply the McDermott playbook," Dickson said, " and hopefully through that, get the company back to where it should be."